Mrs.Al Qaeda denies charges, confirms allegiance to Saudi King

Jeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat –Saudi Arabia’s Special Criminal Court in Jeddah, which specializes in dealing with terrorism cases, yesterday resumed reviewing the case of Haylah al-Qassir – or Mrs. Al Qaeda as she has come to be known in the media – a Saudi Arabian woman accused of being a prominent member of the Al Qaeda organization.  Al-Qassir is accused of a number of terrorism-related offenses including recruiting members for Al Qaeda, aiding and abetting wanted Al Qaeda members, financing terrorism, and possessing weapons used in terrorist acts.  She is also accused of aiding and abetting Al Qaeda members to leave the country to participate in jihad without the permission of the ruler, and forging documents for those wanting to illegally leave the country and fight in foreign conflicts.

This was the second court session of Al-Qassir’s trial, she was accompanied by 4 family members, including her attorney, and was scheduled to respond to the charges that she is facing.   Al-Qassir’s attorney submitted an 11-page document to the Saudi Arabian Special Criminal Court denying the charges issued against her and confirming her allegiance to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz and his government.  The document stressed that the defendant was captive to the will of her first and second husbands – both Al Qaeda affiliates –and that she therefore found herself involved in things that she should not have been.

Haylah Al-Qassir was married to one of the most renowned [Islamist] ascetics of Saudi Arabia’s Khubaib District, Abdul-Karim al-Humaid.  Her first husband followed a form of asceticism that rejected all aspects of modernity, including electricity and riding in cars.  In an article written in 2006 called “Warnings against Excess and Immoderation”, al-Humaid wrote “we were not told to develop with the time and act in the same manner as other people; rather we were told to follow the path of the Prophet and his Companions.”

Haylah Al-Qassir later divorced al-Humaid and was married to Mohamed al-Wakeel, a prominent Al Qaeda member who was killed in a shootout with security forces on 29 December, 2004, following a failed car bomb attack on the Saudi Interior Ministry.

Prior to her court appearance, Haylah Al-Qassir had taken part in Saudi Arabia’s renowned “Musanaha” rehabilitation program.  During this time, Asharq Al-Awsat spoke with Sheikh Abdullah al-Suwailem, a scholar participating in this program which aims to rehabilitate the extremist ideology of Al Qaeda members held in prison.  Sheikh al-Suwailem told Asharq Al-Awsat that Al-Qassir viewed all Saudi security officers as her “enemy” due to the circumstance surrounding her second husband’s death, adding that her support and activities for Al Qaeda were “in revenge” for this.

Haylah al-Qassir reportedly collected 2 million Saudi riyals for Al Qaeda, and recruited nearly 60 new members for the terrorist organizations. Sources also informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Haylah al-Qassir had initiated a project to temporarily marry girls to imprisoned Al Qaeda members, although time had prevented her from completing this project and it ended with only one successful marriage.

However the 11-page document submitted to the court by Al-Qassir’s attorney stressed that she intended to send the money that she had collected “to the poor, widowed, and orphaned in Afghanistan and Yemen, as they are fellow Muslims.”  Her attorney also called on the court to transfer the charge of forging personal documents to a lesser criminal court.

The Saudi Arabian Special Criminal Court began trying the case of Haylah Al-Qassir in July, and she is considered one of the most prominent and indeed dangerous women affiliated with the Al Qaeda organization. She was arrested in Buraidah on 20 February 2009 as part of a massive raid that resulted in the arrest of 113 suspected terrorists.

Reports indicate that Al-Qassir was a prominent Al Qaeda member who was involved in a number of planned terrorist operations in Saudi Arabia in recent years.  Reliable information obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat also indicates that the suicide belts found in the possession of Yusuf al-Shehri and Raed al-Harbi when they were killed in Jizan in 2009 were destined for Haylah al Qassir in al-Qassim. She had reportedly recruited two suicide bombers for a planned attack, and they were waiting for the suicide belts in order to carry out the operation.

As for the charges of possessing illegal arms, Sheikh Abdullah al-Suwailem told Asharq Al-Awsat that Haylah Al-Qassir had informed him that her second husband, Mohamed al-Wakeel, had left two pistols in her custody and asked her to give these weapons to “somebody who is worthy [i.e. another Al Qaeda supporter].”  She was also found to be illegally harboring two wanted Al Qaeda members at the time of her arrest.